110K+OT Batch #4 - Imperial Red Ale | Cigar City Brewing

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Reviews by billab914:

Poured from a 750ml bottle into my Sam Adams glass. It poured a dark caramel, mahogany like color wit ha thick and frothy khaki colored head filling the top inch of the glass. Good head retention and excellent lacing. Pretty great looking beer overall.

The aroma has a juicy and sweet profile to it. I get some bright and zesty citrus flavors to it with some notes of orange, pineapple and grapefruit. A good dose of malty sweetness is there as well with some candied fruit and caramel flavors coming through. It did feel a little overly sweet at times, but overall I liked the aroma a lot.

The taste shows a lot of the candied fruits, almost sugary sweetness to it throughout the flavor. Midway I get some citrusy, tropical fruit notes coming out of the hoppiness. Just a hint of a herbal bitterness comes out in the finish. It was pretty tasty at first, but the sweetness started to be little much after about half a glass.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied and carbonation is moderate. Overall it had some nice hoppy flavors to it, but the sweet, candied like flavors were a little overdone for me. Overall it was an enjoyable and interesting beer, just one I'd rather have in small amounts.

A murky and deep auburn, almost brown, with some glowing bright orange along the edges with a thick tan head. This beer appears heavy, thick, and substantial. The khaki head sticks around for a while and eventually leaves a mess of sticky, chunky lacing down the glass. Spectacular!

The nose is all kinds of sweet with a hint of citrus hops. The main citrus fruit I smell is orange but the nose is dominated by sweet candied-cherries and sticky caramel. It almost smells like a sweet barleywine, as there's certainly the aroma of warm alcohol mixed in with the candy-like sweetness. For a more local reference, I wouldn't be able to distinguish this beer's aroma from Stone Double Bastard's (if memory serves me).

The taste is a mouth-blasting brigade of bitter and citrus hops, sweet candies, fruity and caramel malts, and a small amount of alcohol. The most upfront flavors are the sweet fruits, namely cherries and oranges, and a punch of bitterness. The main difference between the two (Double Bastard and this) is that the alcohol presence and heat is far more noticeable in Stone's offering. This one packs a punch, but it does so very quietly.

Creamy and thick mouthfeel that fits the beer exceptionally well.

A fantastic sipper--and a dead ringer for Stone's Double Bastard, which just happens to be one of my favorite beers. I actually believe this is better than the Stone offering--a similar amount of alcohol is hidden far better in this.

A: Poured into my pint glass, this brew pours a deep mahogany hue. The color of the head is gorgeous creamy auburn, and leaves some nice lacing as this beer quickly begins to disappear.

S: You can tell by the look and the aroma that this brew is heavy on the malt. The lack of strength makes it hard to pin point the major notes, but I pick up heavy caramel malt, piny and citrus hops. This beer has a good amount of biscuity natural notes to it.

T: The malt characteristics lend themselves to a classic Red Ale. Sweet, but not as sweet as a scotch ale, hoppy, but not as hoppy as an IPA. There is good balance to this beer. Caramel malts are dominate, hops can be beefed up a little more. Alcohol is hidden well considering the ABV is around 10.5%

MF: Mouthfeel is full and creamy, very smooth, which gives this beer a rich taste.

Overall, it is always a pleasure every year 110K comes out. Definitely a 1000% improvement over last year.

Big hoppy beer and 9.6% a.b.v. Dark red colour with significant lace, little head. Big hop aroma. Hops and also big malts, caramel. A beer that is not a palate killer, with the IBU in double IPA territory.Abve average mouthfeel and good drinkability.On tap at the brewery.

A- Poured into a Cigar City tulip glass. Pours a dark reddish brown color with a light tan head with great retention and lacing. Like most CCB beers, this one looks great in the glass.

S- The aroma is very balanced between the malt and hops. There is a lot of malt with some citrusy hops and some alcohol in the nose as well.

T- The taste like the aroma is very balanced. There is a lot of malt up front with a good amount of bitterness in the finish. The finish is also possesses quite a bit of warmth from the high alcohol content. The finish comes across way too boozy for my tastes.

M- The mouthfeel is between light and medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation.

O- Overall, I wasn't too impressed with this one. I am a huge fan of pretty much every CCB beer that I've tried but this one fell short with me. Maybe it will benefit from some aging, we shall see.

It pours with a very dense head of about one inch, beer is dark brown in color. Head fades fairly quickly leaving a nice coating on the glass and some residual foam on top. Smell is a hint of chocolate, barleywine like malt(slighty sweet and solventy) , and some hops in the background. The taste is a bit lacking, not much at first, then malty and solventy with some bitterness on the finish. Medium bodied. Overall it is an ok beer, not sure I really understand this series of beers, the ones i have tried are pretty excessively malty and not that enjoyable.

Smell is sweet and very hoppy. The hops are heavy on the citrus and light on pine. There is a bit of caramel in the nose as well.

I am very pleasantly surprised by the taste. I was expecting a hoppy monster but the hops are light to medium and there is a very sweet character to it, much like pineapple, various other tropical fruit, and apple. This is how I would picture a one year aged Dogfish Head 120, absolutely wonderful.

Taste - Kinda falls flat. Hops to start, but it's totally dominated by the sweetness. Just loads of residual sugars in this. Behind the caramel and sugar is a somewhat odd burnt toast bitterness that doesn't really balance the sweetness as it comes too late in the drink.

Mouthfeel - Ok, so the taste is average, but it's so thick that I have trouble putting it away without thinking of the scene from Super Troopers when they chug maple syrup. As a result, there's no level of carbonation that can make this feel like an easy-to-drink amber ale.

Overall - Just too sweet for me. If this year's batch is attenuated more than last year's, I can't imagine how thick Batch 3 must have been.

Big thanks goes out to my boy Jefe73 for sending me this one as a part of a past trade! This one was shared by me at the Down South Beer Tasting while aasher was in town to visit! Served from bottle into a Mikkeller taster flute. Poured ruby red with a two finger light tan head that subsided to one finger slowly. Maintained phenomenal lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, caramel, and caramel hop. The flavor was of sweet malt, caramel, caramel hop, and toffee. It had a medium feel on the palate with mild carbonation. Overall this was a decent brew. This brew had an opportunity to be great, but it was a little on the one-sided street side. The caramel aspect completely dominated this brew for me. If there would have been a little more going on, I would have absolutely loved this one. Still worth trying for fans of the style if you get a chance though.

Bottle date of MAY0511 (likely past its prime). Poured in to Duvel tulip.

A - Poured a murky dark brown colour. Settled completely opaque with one finger of espresso coloured head with fairly good retention.

S - Sweet toffee and caramel malts with some floral notes in the background. Not getting any hops at all.

T - A big caramel and toffee malt presence, almost reminiscent of a barley wine. There is a slightly noticeable hop presence and the ABV doesn't appear to be well hidden. Some light floral flavours in the background are present as well. The finish is dry and bitter.

M - Medium to full body. Creamy. Light carbonation.

O - Clearly past its prime. This one would be interesting fresh. Wasn't memorable in its current state.

dark orange colors swirling about and a good sized head of white reaching up and over the top to around two inches before settling back down again. Really nice layered look to the sides of the glass as it was thoroughly coated all the way down, really good retention here I have to say. Lots of malt in the nose right off. Caramel, sweet notes mixing with a very big hop note, especially as it warms. Piney with a sweet orange rind like citrus touch as it comes close to room temperature. Very thick feel, sticky and full with nice carbonation, definite enough to get it done. Initially you get the piney hop bite as you take the first sip, but it became very well balanced mid palate as the rich, almost scotch ale like buttery notes start to come through